The Supreme Court on Friday (September 26, 2025) acknowledged that a complete ban on firecrackers would open the field for the mafia to capture the industry and illegally peddle their wares to the gullible public.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai expressed amenability to submissions made in court about how a total ban on mining in Bihar in the past had led to the mafia moving in.

The court recorded in its order that a complete ban could not be implemented, raising doubts about the efficacy of exerting an iron-handed approach against the firecracker industry, which employs thousands of workers.

The apex court allowed room for discussing a more “balanced approach” — a policy that would ensure that the right to earn a livelihood in the firecracker industry would co-exist with the right to a clean environment without suffering from the after-effects of air pollution.

The Bench directed the Environment Ministry to find a solution that would weigh in all the considerations. The court has been asked to hear out all the stakeholders, including firecracker manufacturers and sellers. The court listed the case next on October 8.

Green crackers allowed

Meanwhile, the court allowed manufacturers, who have been certified by NEERI and PESO to produce green crackers, to continue their operations. The court has, however, directed these manufacturers to provide undertakings that they would not sell their products in the prohibited areas until further orders.

In the previous hearing on September 12, the CJI had mooted the need to frame and implement a uniform policy for the manufacture, sale and use of firecrackers across the entire country. 

“If firecrackers have to be banned, it has to be done for the entire country… Also the poor who are dependent on this industry have to be looked into,” Chief Justice Gavai had observed.

Chief Justice Gavai had asked why citizens residing in other parts of the country and cities should not be accorded the same relief from air pollution as the “elite” of the national capital city.

The court had confirmed an “all-pervasive, permanent” ban on the sale, production and manufacture of firecrackers in Delhi and National Capital Regions (NCR) in April 2025. The apex court had at that point of time found such a drastic step “absolutely necessary” to protect citizens’ right to clean air. It had reasoned then that restricting the ban to a few months during winter or festival season would not serve any purpose as firecrackers would be stored throughout the year only to be sold and used during the ban period. It had put the onus on the manufacturers to scientifically improve the “so-called green crackers”.

“There is a misconception that air pollution is only a problem for the elite. It is actually the people on the streets who suffer. The construction labourers and the daily wagers…” senior advocate Aparajita Singh, the amicus curiae in the case, had said. 

Senior advocate K. Parameshwar, appearing for firecracker industry, had said their licences are being revoked due to an apex court confirmation of a complete ban on the sale, production and manufacture of firecrackers in Delhi and National Capital Regions (NCR) in April 2025. Some of these licences were valid till 2028.